Schietwedderooger Kleinbahn in 0e Gauge

[Sir Madog]

I posted this in the Narrow Gauge Modeling section, but it did not catch any attention there.

 

After dabbling around with an N scale mini-modular layout for some time, I am now taking the plunge to move up to a scale better suited for my aging eyes and shaking hands

 

As this will be most likely my last layout I am building, I want this to be my masterpiece. I think it is essential to have a convincing layout theme, a "plot" governing design and construction.

 

Let me introduce to my new layout concept "Schietwedderooger Kleinbahn".

 

Schietwedderooge (meaning foul weather island in the local dialect) is a small island off the German North Sea Coast. The island came to considerable wealth in the 15th and 16th century by luring ships into doom and plundering the wrecks. Part of the bounty was used to build an impressive gateway, separating the town from the harbor. Since those dark days, the locals have adopted more civil undertakings, entering the fishing business.The early 1900´s saw the beginning of tourism on the island, for which an appropriate means of transport had to be built. By 1907, all parts of the island could be reached by a narrow gauge line, taking the tourists not only into town, but to the beaches, the lighthouse and those hidden places in the dunes, favored by the younger folks.

WW II and the aftermath of that event so the decline of tourism, as with the economic boom of the 1950´s in Germany, people had the money to spend their holidays in much fairer climate. Soon, mot of the line was closed, and the once proud 0-6-0T steam locos were send to the scrapper. In the early 1960´s, all of was left of the line was a short stretch of track from the harbor to the one and only remaining fish packing and processing plant on the island.Traffic has been reduced to one or two short trains daily, a stretch of open, short wheel-based cars loaded with crates of fish packed in ice, pulled by a derelict 2-axle Diesel critter. The return trip sees a few refrigerated containers being taken to the harbor, where the daily ferry takes them to the mainland.

 

A pictue tells more than a thousand words, so have a look at my plan:

 

 

Both the track plan and the 2-D view are scale drawings, there is a set of scale drawings for each building you see, helping me to build it later on.

 

So far, I have spent about 3 weeks worth of work on the plan and it is about time for construction to commence.

 

The layout will be built in three segments to ensure portability, maybe even to a show one day. I will take my time, so please bear with me as progress will be slow.

[Sir Madog]

I did not like some of the buildings, so I redid them. They are now closer to what I can see "at my doorstep".

 

 

 

Can you spot the seagulls?